INFORMED BY
THE INFORMAL
This study is informed by a way of making first encountered—
and continually rediscovered—in Ekurhuleni, east of
Johannesburg. Across open fields, street corners, and sites of
work, space is assembled through adaptation rather than
design, and function precedes authorship. Materials are
repurposed without sentimentality; what is available becomes
sufficient.
This logic is often dubbed 'informal'. Here it is cited not as a
counter to the formal, but as a system of spatial intelligence
shaped by lived conditions. It is a school of knowledge formed
through use, repair, and repetition. Scarcity refines decision-
making. Processed materials are treated as raw matter. What
remains is only what is necessary.
FEDE draws from this lineage as a lived methodology. In these
environments, space does not begin with buildings or drawings.
It begins with a gesture: making somewhere to sit, to gather, to
pause. From this first act, space becomes inhabitable.
The benches that form this space of interest are not iterations
toward a perfected object, but recurring studies—each
responding to its context while carrying forward the same
underlying intelligence.
THE STUDIO BENCH
CAPE TOWN
2023
The Studio Bench is assembled from what remained. Leftover cinder
blocks—used previously to construct exhibition infrastructure—are
stacked into two ordered piles. Between them, a salvaged plank of
raw wood becomes a seat.
Placed at the entrance of Process
(2023), the bench functioned as both
seating and orientation. It sat
alongside a wall of images, notes, and
references—an open mind-map that
replaced the authority of a singular
exhibition text. The bench and the
wall worked together: one holding
bodies, the other holding context.
Geometry emerges from
order and necessity.
Here, space is made with minimal
assertion. The bench establishes a
condition rather than a design statement—
an early articulation of FEDE's spatial
thinking, where space-making precedes
interpretation.
THE SPIRIT BENCH
(WITH JEANNE GAIGHER)
CAPE TOWN
2023
Created in collaboration with Jeanne Gaigher for her solo
presentation at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, The Spirit
Bench carries forward the logic of the Studio Bench while
allowing it to shift form.
The same plank of wood is reused, now supported by found
rocks gathered from the shore. The rigid geometry of stacked
blocks gives way to a more organic arrangement. Fabric—dyed
to echo the tonal register of Gaigher's work—wraps the
structure, extending the language of the paintings into the
space.
Material choices remain responsive rather than symbolic.
Colour, texture, and form arise from proximity and availability.
The bench does not compete with the artworks; it absorbs
their atmosphere. It becomes part of the spatial ecology,
shaped by a shared intuition and trust in material intelligence.
THE BLACK VERSION
CAPE TOWN
2023
The Black Version is a painted iteration of the Studio Bench, rendered entirely black.
Through colour, the bench recedes. It refuses visual emphasis and asserts its
function instead. In disappearing, it aligns itself with architecture rather than
objecthood—supporting life and movement without asking to be seen.
Presented within a group exhibition by Under Projects, the bench operated as
exhibition infrastructure. Its withdrawal is deliberate: a reminder that spatial work
may not always announce itself, and that some forms are most precise when they
remain quiet.
MUY FRÁGIL
(WITH ELÉA ORENGO DE LAMAZIÈRE)
BARCELONA
2023
Muy frágil is assembled from a broken kitchen cabinet found on the street in Barcelona, where practices of
reuse are embedded into the city's rhythms. On designated days, unwanted furniture is placed outside—not
discarded, but offered for recovery.
The cabinet was repurposed as seating for Arthouse, a travelling exhibition developed with 200 CENT.
Wrapped in the same cardboard that lined the gallery walls, the bench extended the exhibition's language of
movement, transit, and provisionality. The space read as an interior of a box—ideas unpacked temporarily
before moving on.